Mayweather has the tougher fight than Pacquiao

By Boxing News - 08/26/2011 - Comments

By Chris Williams: There are some people who feel that Manny Pacquiao has it tough compared to Floyd Mayweather Jr. because Pacquiao is facing legendary Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12th, whereas Mayweather is facing the younger 24-year-old Victor Ortiz on September 17th.

Marquez is the much accomplished fighter than Marquez, there’s no doubt about that. Marquez is going to go down as one of the best fighters in history of the sport. But he is about to turn 38-years-old, and he is moving up two divisions to fight Pacquiao at welterweight in November.

Pacquiao may have given Marquez a catchweight but it’s not much of one at 144 lbs, just three pounds away from the upper limit of 147. You might as well not have had a catchweight at all if that’s all Marquez is going to get for this fight. Ideally, the catchweight should have been the midpoint between lightweight and welterweight.

In that case it should have been 141 lbs instead of 144. The catchweight that they’re using for this fight really favors Pacquiao. He fights at 145, and only having to lose one pound is going to be nothing for him. Marquez is going to be old, slow and probably a little fat around the midsection. He’s going to be the perfect opponent for Pacquiao to look good against.

Mayweather has a lot tougher fight with the younger, stronger, southpaw Ortiz. Mayweather hasn’t fought anyone that throws a lot of punches like Ortiz since the early point of his career when he was fighting at the lighter weights. Mayweather was a lot younger than and could throw a lot of punches without gassing.

At 34, he’s going to have problems with Ortiz’s work rate, southpaw stance and power. Ortiz is bigger than Mayweather by one inch and will likely outweigh him by 15 pounds on fight night. Pacquiao is going to be the bigger guy in his fight against the aging Marquez. Mayweather will be the smaller and weaker one. I think it goes without saying that Mayweather has the much tougher job compared to Pacquiao.



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